Christmas Visitors

Every year when we decorate our house for Christmas, one of the last things that we do is unpack and set up the nativity scene. But no matter how many years we do this, there’s always some confusion for us about how the setup should look, and where each figure should be placed. There’s a lot of thought that goes into the setup of the scene, but to be honest I don’t often give much thought to the characters themselves. This year during Advent, as I’ve been reading through the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ birth, my mind keeps going back to the two different sets of visitors that found their way into nativity scene: the Magi and the Shepherds. The visit from the Magi detailed in Matthew chapter 2 says that they went into a house to see Jesus. While their visit most likely took place after Joseph and Mary left the unfit situation of the stable that she gave birth in, their presence in our nativity sets tell us quite a bit about the character of God. These two groups were polar opposites from one another. In fact, the only things that they had in common were that God revealed to them that someone of significance had been born, they both traveled to go see Jesus, and praised Him when they arrived. The Magi were prominent, distinguished men from a foreign country, most likely Babylon or Persia. They were astronomers, and were educated and skilled in interpreting dreams and signs. They also had access to rare and expensive things, evident by the gifts that they brought to Jesus. But as wise as they were, they still weren’t able to perceive on their own that Herod was a cruel man, intent on killing anyone who threatened his crown. God intervened in their lives through a dream, warning them not to return to Herod. In comparison, the Shepherds were men who were despised and looked down upon. In first century Israel, the Shepherds were often seen as outsiders. They spent long periods of time in isolation in the wilderness tending to their flocks. In fact, they were so despised as people, that they weren’t even allowed to be legal witnesses in Israel. As different as these two groups of people were from one another, I couldn’t help but think about why God included them in the Christmas story, and why we see them captured in every nativity scene today. The more I thought about this, the more of God’s character I was able to see. By including these different groups of people, he was showing us that the coming of Jesus wasn’t just for a particular set of people. In fact, Luke 2:10 says that the angel who appeared to the Shepherds told them that he was bringing them “good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” Jesus came for the rich and the prominent, as well as for the poor and lowly. For the distinguished and the despised. For the Jew and the Gentile. We are reminded of this through these groups found in our nativity sets, and through them God also reminds us that He is the one who assigns worth and value. He is willing and capable of using people in high places to accomplish His will, just as He is willing and able to take people of seemingly no worth or value, those who aren’t able to be legal witnesses in their own communities, and to make them the first witnesses of the Messiah’s arrival! Ultimately God shows us through the Magi and the Shepherds two wonderful truths: no matter how much wisdom, respect, or material things we have, we still need to good news that brings great joy. The other is that no matter how mundane or worthless we think we are, or our society thinks we are, we are never too far from being used by God to accomplish His great purpose.